Maidana’s Camp Comes Out Swinging

BY KENNETH D. MILLER
SPECIAL TO THE NNPA FROM THE LOS ANGELES SENTINEL

For anyone who has ever seen Marcos Maidana fight you know that he is wild and fights with a reckless abandon.

In his first fight against Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather he swung wild, hitting the undefeated pound for pound king with low blow, elbows and roundhouse rights.

On Thursday July 17, the final stop on the five city promotional tour, it was his trainer Robert Garcia’s turn to throw some wild verbal shots at The Money Team.

Garcia stood on the stage at Pershing Square amid the bright sunshine of Downtown Los Angeles and dug into Mayweather’s entourage in advance of the September 13 confrontation rematch between Mayweather and Maidana.

“Floyd you have a lot of beautiful women with you today,” Garcia said pointing to the women frequently accompanying the champ. “They are all on your pay roll! When your money is gone they will also be gone.” Garcia wasn’t done. “I watched the (late) Diego Corrales (in 2001 against Mayweather) with my kids and they were on the edge of their seats. I bet if your kids watch any of your fights after the fourth round they will be fall asleep.”

The champ stood by wearing a brown pen stripe suit and open collar white shirt and adjusted his diamond studded watch and then rubbed lotion into his hands. The day before, Maidana shoved Mayweather during that face-off following their fourth stop on the promotional tour.

Mayweather never responded to Garcia’s jabs and instead thanked his mother, trainer father Floyd Sr. grandmother Bernice, the fans and Richard Scheafer who made his first public appearance since his split from Golden Boy Promotions.

“I love Richard Schaefer and I want to thank him. He is responsible for taking Golden Boy from the bottom to the top where they are right now,” Mayweather praised.

While he also thanked CBS/Showtime and Showtime CEO Victor Espinosa, there was no mentioned of his advisor Al Haymon, although Haymon’s trusted lieutenant Sam Watson stood near by Mayweather on stage.

Clearly the hundreds of fans were divided along racial lines, with Blacks rooting and cheering for Mayweather and the Argentines and Latinos screaming for Maidana. As they waiting patiently for the fighters to walk the red carpet on the stage, they were treated to a big screen televised showing for the first showdown between the two combatants.

Bookmakers have already installed Mayweather as a prohibitive 11-1 favorite to win on the fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and on world Pay Per View distributed by Showtime, but if there was a judge during the five city promo tour then Maidana and his team was declared the clear winner on verbal winner.

Mayweather dedicated the September 13 fight to his four kids who were sitting at the dais on the stage.